


Personal Space

by Caedmon



Series: In an hour or less: Olicity in a jiffy! [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Flash Fic, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, Road Trip, flash fic drive #29, olicity - Freeform, road trip fic drive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-04-01 00:42:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3999412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caedmon/pseuds/Caedmon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From the Olicity Flash Fic drive prompt #29 - 'Up Close and Personal'</p><p>Oliver and Felicity were on their own, individuals. Now they're together 24/7. Can they handle such an adjustment?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Personal Space

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing but mistakes because I have no beta. :)
> 
> did you know that every time you leave kudos, Felicity kisses Oliver?  
> did you know that every time you comment, Oliver does that face-cupping thing and kisses Felicity?  
> did you know that anytime you rec a fic you like (not just mine), Felicity smacks Oliver on the butt as he walks by?
> 
> All of this is 110% true.
> 
> clintasha-n-olicity.tumblr.com

Oliver loved Felicity. Oh, God he loved her. She was everything he had ever dreamed of but always figured he would never have. But there she was, right in front of him. Right beside of him, spending every day and every night of the last four weeks with him. 

And that was kind of the problem he was having right now. 

He had spent a long, long time alone on that island, and had gotten used to sharing nothing with no one out of necessity. When he had taken on his new mantle as the Arrow he had intended to go it alone, but Dig and Felicity had come along and the three of them had become a team. Even still, he had maintained as much distance as he could, letting them in only by increments. He loved both of them fiercely and couldn't live without either. Oliver had actually spent a large amount of the quiet hours that he and Felicity had had together contemplating how to make things right with John, and Lord knew that now that he had Felicity, he'd never let her go without one hell of a fight.

But that was the thing. He'd let them into his life by increments, and now all of the sudden Felicity was with him every moment. 

It wasn't that he didn't love her or didn't want her with him. It wasn't that she was doing anything wrong. She wasn't smothering him, she wasn't hanging on him. She was the same as she always was. The same Felicity she had been before he left for Nanda Parbat, only more affectionate and responsive to the love he had been trying to give her for over a year. His heart sang when he rolled over every morning and her hair was spread over the pillow next to him. He would pull her close to him, curling around her body and nuzzling her, just craving her closeness.

But later, when he would walk out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth and she'd be standing in front of the mirror pulling her hair into a ponytail, he'd have a little flash of wishing for solitude. Just a little time to himself.

Felicity had a finely-tuned sense about Oliver and his needs, and she sensed that something was off about him right now. She hadn't commented, but Oliver knew that she was aware that he was troubled. She seemed to be bothered a little, too, by something unknown to him. Anytime he sensed potential upset from her, the decision not to tell her of his own discomfort was affirmed. The thought of telling her that he wanted to be away from her and possibly hurting her feelings - especially when she seemed to already be in some kind of distress herself - was abhorrent. He simply wouldn't do it. He would continue to suffer rather than cause her any pain.

So Oliver kept his mouth shut, and Felicity kept his mouth shut, and their conversations became less deep and more small talk and chats about things they saw and destinations they wanted to see. He noted the change and it terrified him; the idea of losing her was the most fear-inducing thing he had ever faced, by a longshot. But for a week, nothing of any importance was said and the conversations got shallower and shallower.

>>>\------->

They were headed east on a two-lane highway in North Carolina. The sun was hot and the breeze was doing only a little to cool them down. Oliver opened his mouth to suggest pulling off and putting the top off when Felicity turned in her seat to face him.

"I don't want to go to the Outer Banks anymore."

"Oh?"

"No. I want to go home."

Oliver looked at her sidelong. "Home?"

"Yes. I'm ready to go home." 

Oliver didn't say anything, but his mind reeled with the implications of what she was saying. What did this mean? Did she want to end their relationship? Did she want to end the trip? Did she want to end _everything_?

Again, Oliver opened his mouth but Felicity spoke before he could get a word out. "Oliver, I've been living on my own for a long time. I've gotten used to having my own space, to doing what I wanted when I wanted, to having things my own way. And I love you more than I love anything or anyone in this world, but I'm thinking maybe the two of us taking off on a trip where we don't get any kind of a break from each other wasn't the healthiest idea."

He wondered wildly if he were going to be able to control the car if she went on much more. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I want to go home and watch TV in my apartment and fart whenever I need to and you be in Thea's apartment and argue with her about what to watch and you spend the night at my place a few times a week but us get more comfortable _over time_ and move in together _over time_ , not all at once."

Oliver's shoulders sagged and his hands relaxed on the wheel so that he was gripping it loosely. "So you're not breaking up with me."

Felicity looked affronted. "No! God, no. Oh no, honey, I never meant to - oh, I'm so sorry. No, not at all! I just miss my apartment and I miss my friends and I miss being able to be gross sometimes."

Oliver smiled, a bright genuine smile. "You can be gross with me."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "We're not there yet."

Oliver beamed. "No, we're not. But I have to tell you, I've been feeling the same way."

Felicity brightened. "You have? You want to be gross, too?" she chirped.

He laughed. "No, goofball. I've been wanting a little space. I didn't want to tell you and hurt you."

Felicity reached across to put one hand on Oliver's leg, and he brought his right hand down to lace his fingers with hers. "You can tell me anything, anytime. That whole _honesty-is-vital-to-healthy-relationships_ thing and all that."

Oliver chuckled and squeezed her hand. "Well, I wouldn't know about that. I've never had one of those." He brought her hand up and kissed it softly. "Until now."

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Until now," she agreed."

"So where to?" Oliver asked with a bounce in his voice. "It'll take us about three days to get home. Think we can stand each other that long?" He looked over to Felicity and winked as he flicked the turn signal on.

"Oh, I think so," she replied with mock hesitancy. "But I think maybe we should stay camped at our own places for at least..." she pretended to ponder, "three days when we get home. I've got a lot of gross to get out of my system."

Oliver laughed as twisted the wheel to pull into a gas station, turning around in the parking lot and flicking the turn signal for the opposite direction they had just been heading. "I'll give you two days, then I'll be at your door no matter how gross you are. I'll miss you too much."

She smiled at him, her face radiant and pure, and the sunshine dimmed because it just wasn't needed when Felicity smiled like that. Oliver leaned across the small car, taking her face in his hands and kissed her slowly and gently. He pulled away when the sun grew hot on his shoulders from lack of wind and put his forehead to hers for a second.

"I love you, Felicity."

"I love you too, Oliver."

**Author's Note:**

> So, as much as I LOVE the idea of the two of them running away on a road trip for months, the practicality of it bugs me. I adore my husband, but if he and I are together for more than three days with no time away from each other, we both get twitchy. I don't know any couple that isn't like that.
> 
> I kind of feel like that while the idea of the two riding off into the sunset to spend every moment together is beautiful and romantic, it's also unhealthy and this is a response to that. 
> 
> BUT IT'S STILL FLUFFY.


End file.
